Young Hands Pryor First Defeat on KO in Bizarre Comeback Bout

Bobby Joe Young scored a seventh-round knockout of Aaron Pryor, the former World Boxing Council junior-welterweight champion, Saturday night in a bout marked by Pryor’s strange antics.

Pryor, unbeaten in 36 previous fights, was attempting to come back after a bout with cocaine addiction. His strange behavior in the ring included taking a swipe at Young’s trainer before the fight, helping the timer count after a first-round knockdown and crossing himself several times while on one knee when he was being counted out in the seventh round.

“It was a good tuneup for me,” said Pryor, who made very little sense in the post-fight news conference. “It put me on my P’s and Q’s. That’s the first time I lost. Merry Christmas. So what.”

Young landed a powerful right early in the seventh round that sent Pryor flopping to the canvas. He stood up but then went back down to his knee and began to cross himself. Referee Bernie Soto stopped the fight when Pryor still was on his knee at the count of 10.

After the fight, former junior-welterweight champion Alexis Arguello, who lost twice to Pryor, said his old nemesis should not be allowed in the ring again.

“If any commission in the world accepts him to fight, it would be terrible,” Arguello said.

Pryor, 32, of Cincinnati, spent much of the past 28 months in a cocaine-induced stupor. He claims he has beaten his addiction.